Disc I[CD]01. Through The Fire And Flames02. Revolution Deathsquad03. Storming The Burning Fields04. Operation Ground And Pound05. Body Breakdown06. Cry For Eternity07. The Flame Of Youth08. Trail Of Broken Hearts09. Lost Souls In Endless Time [Japanese bonus]

Disc II[DVD]01. My Spirit Will Go On [live]02. Through The Fire And Flames [video]03. Operation Ground and Pound [video]04. Rockumentary: Behind The Scenes

Through over production, unbearably cheesy lyrical content and musical masturbation, one wonders how an album like this could bring a band such mainstream success so quickly.

The first track 'Through The Fire And The Flames' comes on and it's amazing: insane guitar work, top notch vocals, and some cheesy (yet fun to sing along to) lyrics. The next song has pretty much the same format but with a slightly less catchy tune....and then the entire album seems to follow this pattern. It eventually comes to a point where it's not even songs anymore, but just Herman and Sam showing how fast they can play, which doesn't really offer any listening pleasure to the listener (hence the term musical masturbation). So you can fit 30 000 notes in in 0.5 seconds - there is no point to it if your song structure sucks beyond that point.

I have to give this album some credit, given that it was my real introduction to power metal (no shame) and to the band themselves, of course. I was 14 when I first heard "Through the Fire and Flames" and for a good few months, thought it was a masterpiece (again, no shame). Needless to say, I grew tired of it soon after but that main riff has stuck in my head for the last eight years or so, and like "My Spirit will go on" remains a nostalgia track. That's essentially why I'm not rating this album any lower, because of the amount of nostalgia it brings out of me. Listening to it now and again I can sort of understand where all the hate comes from, but it's genuinely a love/hate thing. At least it feels that way.

By opening an album with your best song, you risk rendering everything else as filler. That's not quite what happened here, but because "Through The Fire And Flames" is so exceedingly brilliant, most of the other tracks feel like variations on a theme. And those random harsh backing vocals are just distracting.

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